Children are often excluded from disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities, yet they are one of the most vulnerable groups to disasters. As a result, they experience physical, psychological and educational vulnerabilities. There is lack of research on children's participation in DRR and their potential value in strengthening community resilience has been largely overlooked. Therefore, this article highlights the existing research and knowledge gap in children's participation in DRR. It highlights the existing research and knowledge gap by reviewing literature on the concept of children's participation in DRR. The article analyses the different ways in which children's participation in DRR has been conceptualised, and how this has influenced the way children are involved in DRR. The study will then explore the obstacles to involving children and their potential contribution in DRR.

In this article we fit a time-dependent generalised extreme value (GEV) distribution to annual maximum flood heights at three sites: Chokwe, Sicacate and Combomune in the lower Limpopo River basin of Mozambique. A GEV distribution is fitted to six annual maximum time series models at each site, namely: annual daily maximum (AM1), annual 2-day maximum (AM2), annual 5-day maximum (AM5), annual 7-day maximum (AM7), annual 10-day maximum (AM10) and annual 30-day maximum (AM30). Non-stationary time-dependent GEV models with a linear trend in location and scale parameters are considered in this study. The results show lack of sufficient evidence to indicate a linear trend in the location parameter at all three sites. On the other hand, the findings in this study reveal strong evidence of the existence of a linear trend in the scale parameter at Combomune and Sicacate, whilst the scale parameter had no significant linear trend at Chokwe. Further investigation in this study also reveals that the location parameter at Sicacate can be modelled by a nonlinear quadratic trend; however, the complexity of the overall model is not worthwhile in fit over a time-homogeneous model. This study shows the importance of extending the time-homogeneous GEV model to incorporate climate change factors such as trend in the lower Limpopo River basin, particularly in this era of global warming and a changing climate.

The understanding and institutionalisation of the seamless link between urban critical infrastructure and disaster management has greatly helped the developed world to establish effective disaster management processes. However, this link is conspicuously missing in developing countries, where disaster management has been more reactive than proactive. The consequence of this is typified in poor response time and uncoordinated ways in which disasters and emergency situations are handled. As is the case with many Nigerian cities, the challenges of urban development in the city of Abeokuta have limited the effectiveness of disaster and emergency first responders and managers. Using geospatial techniques, the study attempted to design and deploy a spatial database running a web-based information system to track the characteristics and distribution of critical infrastructure for effective use during disaster and emergencies, with the purpose of proactively improving disaster and emergency management processes in Abeokuta.

An intense cut-off low weather system, more commonly known regionally as a 'black southeaster', caused severe flooding in Port Alfred and the surrounding coastal areas from 17 to 23 October 2012. Unconfirmed reports of up to 700 mm of rainfall for the period were recorded. Damage caused by the flooding was estimated at R500 million. Eight deaths were recorded. The poorly maintained and ageing infrastructure and storm water systems could not withstand the floodwaters, and as a result, damage was worse than it should have been. Many houses, particularly in the surrounding townships and informal settlements, were destroyed. Disease threats arose, including cholera, diarrhoea and influenza. The South African Weather Service issued weather warnings of severe local flooding in the coastal areas of the Eastern Cape a few days before the flood event. Unfortunately, there was a delay in communicating the severe weather warning effectively to the public, relevant authorities and role-players by local disaster management officials. In addition, there was poor and ineffective local coordination of disaster response and relief efforts. This paper examines the 2012 flood event from both meteorological and disaster management perspectives, using a combined qualitative and quantitative research approach. Findings point to a critical lack of coordination amongst the various role-players before, during and after the disaster. Recommendations for improved proactive and coordinated disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction for the region are made.

The Merafong Local Municipality (MLM) has historically suffered financial and human losses because of the presence of dolomite and the consequent formation of sinkholes. There is a great need for the MLM to address the risk posed by sinkholes to ensure the continued safety of communities. However, as the risk is so pervasive, the MLM needs to coordinate their risk reduction strategies with a wide array of stakeholders in the municipality. Efficient stakeholder management is thus crucial if the sinkhole risk is to be addressed appropriately. This article reviews the current status of stakeholder management in the MLM as it pertains to the formulation of a holistic sinkhole risk reduction strategy. Findings indicate that there are serious deficiencies in the MLM's stakeholder management relating to key risk management processes such as community involvement in risk management structures, disaster risk assessment, training and awareness, and early warning and response. Improved stakeholder management could be characterised by the following factors: improved two-way communication between the municipality and community stakeholders, fostering a relationship based upon trust and equality amongst stakeholders, participation by a wide array of stakeholder groups affected by the sinkhole risk and a mutual commitment by all stakeholders to address the risk. These factors could contribute to enhancing current and future sinkhole risk reduction strategies.

Bangladesh is one of the vulnerable countries of the world for natural disasters. Drought is one of the common and severe calamities in Bangladesh that causes immense suffering to people in various ways. The present research has been carried out to examine the frequency of meteorological droughts in Bangladesh using the long-term rainfall data of 30 meteorological observatories covering the period of 1948-2011. The study uses the highly effective Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for drought assessment in Bangladesh. By assessing the meteorological droughts and the history of meteorological droughts of Bangladesh, the spatial distributions of meteorological drought indices were also analysed. The spatial and temporal changes in meteorological drought and changes in different years based on different SPI month intervals were analysed. The results indicate that droughts were a normal and recurrent feature and it occurred more or less all over the country in virtually all climatic regions of the country. As meteorological drought depends on only rainfall received in an area, anomaly of rainfall is the main cause of drought. Bangladesh experienced drought in the years 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1971 before independence and after independence Bangladesh has experienced droughts in the years 1972, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2011 during the period 1948-2011. The study indicated that Rajshahi and its surroundings, in the northern regions and Jessore and its surroundings areas, the island Bhola and surrounding regions, in the south-west region, were vulnerable. In the Sylhet division, except Srimongal, the areas were not vulnerable but the eastern southern sides of the districts Chittagong, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Teknaf were vulnerable. In the central regions, the districts of Mymensingh and Faridpur were more vulnerable than other districts.

Malaria continues to be a major public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa despite efforts that have been made to prevent and control the disease for many decades. The knowledge on prediction and occurrence of the disease that communities acquired over the years has not been seriously considered in control programmes. This article reports on studies that aimed to integrate indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) on malaria into the malaria control programme in Gwanda District, Zimbabwe. The studies were conducted over a 3-year period. Data were collected using participatory rural appraisals, key informant interviews, household interviews and workshops in three wards (11, 15 and 18) with the highest malaria incidence in Gwanda District. Disease livelihoods calendars produced by the community showed their knowledge on the relationship between malaria, temperature and rainfall, and thus an understanding of malaria as a hazard. Volunteer IKS experts willing to record the indigenous environmental indicators for the occurrence of malaria in the study area were identified by the communities. Indigenous environmental indicators for the occurrence of malaria were classified as insects, plant phenology, animals, weather and cosmological indicators. Plant phenology was emphasised more than the other indicators. A community-based malaria early warning system model was developed using the identified IKS indicators in two of the wards using the ward health team as an entry point to the health system. In the model, data on indicators were collected at the village level by IKS experts, analysed at ward level by IKS experts and health workers and relayed to the district health team.

With the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the central focus of the newly appointed government was to alter and consolidate the policies of the pre-Union colonies that differed materially in many respects and to substitute them with uniform policies that had to be implemented as a consolidated whole for the Union. This central focus was applied to a number of policies, notably those for the black people, immigration, education, labour, national defence and the development and implementation of railway, mining and agricultural policies. However, an omission occurred with regard to the consideration of a comprehensive public health policy by the political parties and the Union Parliament, consisting of white people only. This article examines this omission during the first 10 years of the Union of South Africa (1910-1920), during the three 5-yearly general elections (on 15 September 1910, 20 October 1915 and 10 March 1920), and argues that this lack of consideration of a comprehensive public health policy can be found in the theory of party political responsible government during unification, which was further developed by Kavanagh, that party political manifestos act as the guiding force behind the policy matters that are discussed and decided upon in Parliament. The article confirms that the reason for not establishing a comprehensive public health policy prior to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 was the incidental and piecemeal fashion in which expressions on public health appeared in the published party political manifestos, which in turn influenced the proceedings of Parliament. This political negligence was, however, quickly overturned by Parliament immediately after the epidemic, showing the influence of this demographic disaster on political thinking and action.

Private and public partnerships are defended by both guidelines for action and legal frameworks for disaster risk management. The objective of this study is to identify a framework for action that allows joint collaborative partnership between these sectors. The theoretical discussion brings concepts that raise questions that permeate the possibility of partnership based on the new Sendai framework, as well as corporate social responsibility in the value, balance and accountability (VBA) integrative model. The presented framework is compared to the experience of the tornado which occurred in Brazil in the city of Xanxerê (Santa Catarina) in 2015. We came to the conclusion that partnership advance results from paradigm shifts in both sectors, on the one hand, with the development of management mechanisms that clearly define roles and responsibilities of those involved, and, on the other hand, motivation for responsible business conduct.

Hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) are widely transported in marine vessels to reach every part of the world. Bulk transportation of hazardous chemicals is carried out in tank container-carrying cargo ships or in designed vessels. Ensuring the safety of HNS containers during maritime transportation is critically important as the accidental release of any substance may be lethal to the on-board crew and marine environment. A general assumption in maritime accidents in open ocean is that it will not create any danger to the coastal population. The case study discussed in this article throws light on the dangers latent in maritime HNS accidents. An accident involving an HNS-carrying marine vessel in the Arabian Sea near the coast of Yemen became a safety issue to the coastal people of Kasargod District of Kerala, India. The ship carried more than 4000 containers, which were lost to the sea in the accident. Six HNS tank containers were carried by the waves and shored at the populated coast of Kasargod, more than 650 nautical miles east from the accident spot. The unanticipated sighting of tank containers in the coast and the response of the administration to the incident, the hurdles faced by the district administration in handling the case, the need for engaging national agencies and lessons learned from the incident are discussed in the article. This case study has proven that accidents in the open ocean have the potential to put the coastal areas at risk if the on-board cargo contains hazardous chemicals. Littoral nations, especially those close to the international waterlines, must include hazardous chemical spills to their oil spill contingency plans.

One group of locations significantly affected by climate-related losses and damage is the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). One mechanism aiming to reduce such adverse impacts is insurance, with a wide variety of products and models available. Insurance for climate-related hazards affecting Pacific SIDS has not been investigated in detail. This article contributes to filling this gap by exploring how insurance mechanisms might be implemented in the Pacific SIDS for tropical cyclones and droughts. The study examines opportunities and constraints or limitations of some existing insurance mechanisms and programmes as applied to the Pacific SIDS. Eight insurance mechanisms are compared and discussed regarding the premium cost compared to the gross domestic product per capita, the amount of payout compared to the damage cost, the reserve and reinsurance, and the disaster risk reduction incentives. As such, this article offers a decision-making tool on insurance development for the Pacific SIDS. Ultimately, implementing disaster insurance for the Pacific SIDS depends on political will and external technical and financial assistance.

Political risk is identified as a dominant risk category of disaster risk management (DRM) which could negatively affect the success of those measures implemented to reduce disaster risk. Key to political risk is the construct of national identity which, if poorly constructed, could greatly contribute to political risk. This article proposed a tool to measure the construct of national identity and to provide recommendations to strengthen the construct in order to mitigate the exacerbating influence it may have on political risk and ultimately on DRM. The design of the measurement tool consisted of a mixed methodological approach employing both quantitative and qualitative data. The data collection instruments included a literature review (which is shortly provided in the previous sections) and an empirical study that utilised data obtained through structured questionnaires. Although the results of the proposed measuring instrument did not include a representative sample of all the cultures in South Africa, the results alluded to different levels for the construction of national identity among black and white respondents, possibly because of different ideological expectations among these groups. The results of the study should be considered as a validation of the measuring tool and not necessarily of the construct of national identity in South Africa. The measuring tool is thus promising for future studies to reduce political risk and ultimately disaster risk.

Indigenous knowledge is valuable knowledge that has helped local communities all over the world survive for generations. This knowledge originates from the interaction between members of the community and the environment in which they live. Although much has been written about indigenous knowledge, its documentation in the area of disaster risk reduction and climate change in Africa has been very limited. The wealth of this knowledge has not been well-recognised in the disaster risk reduction field, as policy-makers still rely on mitigation strategies based on scientific knowledge. Colonialism and lack of proper documentation of indigenous knowledge are some of the contributing factors to this. Ignoring the importance of understanding adaptive strategies of the local people has led to failed projects. Understanding how local people in Africa have managed to survive and adapt for generations, before the arrival of Western education, may be the key to developing sustainable policies to mitigate future challenges. Literature used in this article, obtained from the books, papers and publications of various experts in the fields of disaster risk reduction, climate change, indigenous knowledge and adaptation, highlight the need for more interest to be shown in indigenous knowledge, especially in the developing country context. This would lead to better strategies which originate from the community level but would aim for overall sustainable development in Africa.

Forests are vulnerable to climate change and are also major sources of livelihood for many rural households in Africa. This study examines rural people's perceptions of climate change impacts on forest-based livelihoods using rural communities of Vhembe District in South Africa as a case study. The study was based on the principles of perceived impact-based assessment, and sustainable livelihoods framework. Using the stratified proportionate random sampling procedure in combination with weighted Enumeration Area for the selected communities, 366 households were chosen and interviewed. Data analysis involved computing frequencies and conducting the Chi-square, binomial tests and binary logistic regression analysis. The respondents identified erratic rainfall, extreme temperature, extreme drought and flooding as key climatic events in their community. But not all identified key climatic events were perceived to constitute risk to forest products and forest-based livelihood. Only extreme drought was indicated to constitute risk to availability of forest products. In addition, the binary logistic regression showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the perceived risk of climate change to the availability of essential forest products across the three municipalities. Hence the need for forest development initiatives that target vulnerable forest products per community as a means of enhancing resilience of forest-based livelihood to climate change impacts in rural community development in South Africa.

Coastal erosion along the Accra coast has become a chronic phenomenon that threatens both life and property. The issue has assumed a centre stage of national debate in recent times because of its impact on the coastal communities. Lack of reliable geospatial data hinders effective scientific investigations into the changing trends in the shoreline position. However, knowledge about coastal erosion, by the local people, and how far the shoreline has migrated inland over time is high in the coastal communities in Accra. This opens a new chapter in coastal erosion research to include local knowledge of the local settlers in developing sustainable coastal management. This article adopted a scientific approach to estimate rate of erosion and tested the results against perceived erosion trend by the local settlers. The study used a 1974 digital topographic map and 1996 aerial photographs. The end point rate statistical method in DSAS was used to compute the rates of change. The short-term rate of change for the 22-year period under study was estimated as -0.91 m/annum ± 0.49 m/annum. It was revealed that about 79% of the shoreline is eroding, while the remaining 21% is either stabilised or accreting. It emerged, from semi-structured interviews with inhabitants in the Accra coastal communities, that an average of about 30 m of coastal lands are perceived to have been lost to erosion for a period of about 20 years. This translates to a historic rate of change of about 1.5 m/year, which corroborates the results of the scientific study. Again this study has established that the local knowledge of the inhabitants, about coastal erosion, can serve as reliable information under scarcity of scientific data for coastal erosion analyses in developing countries.